Aurum – Metal Melding Alchemists

Aurum is a trick-taking game where players take on the role of alchemists melding base metals into gold. Earn points from gold and correctly bidding on number of tricks you’ll win. The unique trick-taking hook in Aurum is that players must not follow suit!

Pandasaurus Games publishes Aurum and it’s designed by Shreesh Bhat, with eye-catching art by Stevo Torres. It’s for 3-4 players, age 7+ and plays in 30-45 minutes.

Setup

A four player game of Aurum is played in two teams, with teammates seated opposite each other. Give each player a zero Gold card, and place the remaining Gold cards in a supply. Next, shuffle the deck of Base Metal cards and deal 12 to each player, leaving two cards as a face-up discard pile. Then randomly choose a first player and give them the first player marker. Each player should allow enough space in front of them to place their Gold collection, bid card, and won tricks.

Gameplay

In Aurum, a team must win two rounds of play. They’ll score points through collecting gold cards and scoring their bids.

Each round is broken down into three steps: bid, play, and scoring.

Bid

At the start of each round, players review their Base Metal cards and decide how many tricks they can win. Starting with the first player, each player selects a card with that bid value from their hand. They then place it face-up in front of them. The team’s bid for the round will be the higher of the two individual bids.

Playing Tricks

The first player starts the trick by playing a Base Metal card from their hand. Play then continues clockwise, with each player following these card rules:

• Each player must NOT match the Base Metal card(s) already played.
• Gold cards can always be played, even if the trick contains a Gold card. Players play Gold cards from their collection instead of a Base Metal card from their hand.
• Gold cards trump any Base Metal cards.
• The first player cannot lead the trick with a Gold card.

Additionally, before playing any cards, a player may spend a Gold card to change their team’s bid. They select a card from their hand as the new bid, and the spent Gold card returns to the supply.

Taking the trick

After everyone has played into the trick, the player with the highest-ranked (largest number) Base Metal card wins – as long as no Gold cards were played. If Gold was played, the highest Gold card wins.

The winner of the trick collects all the Base Metal cards and places them in front of them for scoring later. Any Gold cards played into the trick are returned to the supply.

The player who played the lowest number card gets a Gold card matching that number.

Round End

Players keep playing tricks until the round ends, which is triggered when a player can’t play a valid Base Metal card and can’t (or does not want to) play a Gold card.

The player who ends the round reveals their hand to show they have no valid Base Metal card to play. This final trick doesn’t count toward bids, and all cards played are discarded without awarding Gold for the lowest-ranked card. Then, the round is scored.

Scoring

After the round ends, it’s time to score bids and Gold cards:

Scoring Bids:

• Underbid: If a team takes fewer tricks than their bid, they earn zero points.
• Overbid: If a team takes more tricks than their bid, they earn points equal to their bid value.
• Exact Bid: If the number of tricks taken matches the bid, the team earns double their bid.

Scoring Gold Cards:

• Gold cards with rank 0 are worth 0 points.
• Ranks 1-3 are worth 1 point each.
• Ranks 4-6 are worth 2 points each.
• Ranks 7-8 are worth 3 points each.

Teammates add together their points from Gold cards and bids. The team with the highest total score wins the round and takes a gold nugget.

Starting the Next Round:

To begin the next round, return all Gold cards to the supply and shuffle all Base Metal cards together. Deal 12 Base Metal cards to each player, and place two cards face up near the Gold supply. The player to the left of the previous first player receives the first player marker and starts the next round.

Once a team has collected two nuggets, they become master alchemists, winning the game.

3 Player Game

In a three player game of Aurum, players compete individually rather than in teams. The game still consists of three rounds, but the player who collects the most Gold nuggets by the end of the game wins. If there is a tie, the player with the highest bid in the final round is declared the winner.

Impressions

Aurum offers a unique twist on the trick-taking genre with its no-follow mechanic. In all my trick-taking experiences, I’ve only played two other games with a similar approach: Potatoman and certain missions in The Crew.

I really enjoyed this aspect of the gameplay. It makes play more challenging, especially if you’re heavy in one suit of Base Metals.

Playing Gold cards adds an extra layer of fun when trumping a trick. Since the Gold cards are open information, timing is key—playing a low card early usually gets trumped.

Bidding on tricks felt a bit deflating, especially when playing with a partner. I understand why communication is restricted, but this is where the team aspect fell flat for my group. The lack of communication made it feel like I was really just bidding on my own chances rather than as part of a team.

I wish there had been another way to score. There were exciting moments when we tried to lose tricks to hit our exact bid and succeeded, but it often felt like I was just sandbagging turns to help my teammate. Even though it helped the team, it didn’t feel particularly rewarding.

Fun For Families

Aurum will appeal to players who enjoy bidding on tricks. I didn’t grow up playing traditional card games like Euchre or Pinochle, so the bidding aspect failed to resonate with me. For kids, it might be a tough sell unless they’re already familiar with this style of game. The premise works, but there’s nothing particularly enticing to draw them.

But Aurum’s production quality is top-notch! The artwork is stellar and really shines with the linen finish on the cards. Plus, the gold nuggets are a far better way to score than using pencil and paper.

Are you ready to become the next great alchemist? Pick up a copy of Aurum from your local friendly game store, from Pandasaurus Games, or on Amazon.

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Aurum from Pandasaurus Games for this review.

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